FreeLists / arachne / [arachne] Re: DOS only or?

["Ray Andrews" <randrews@xxxxxxxxx>]

Arachne at FreeLists---The Arachne Fan Club!

On Tue, 6 May 2008 23:25:47 -0700, Eric S. Emerson wrote:

>                Well, I know engineers who
> prefer M$W!n software.   I find it strange
> when I hear people exclaim how this or
> that group/category of people prefer Macs..
> Then why aren't Macs the predominant
> computer. And, why isn't Apple far out
> grossing M$?   I wonder if the fact that
> Apple gave so many computers to the
> education community might have some
> bearing on the situation.  Maybe a lot of
> new enginreers were forced to use them
> in school.

The reason is simple. People are heard animals, the majority 
do what the majority are already doing. Thus once one OS or
the other gains an edge, by fair means or foul (this means U
B.G.) the momentum it gains becomes self perpetuating -- few
have the independance to take their own path, especialy when
doing so, as well as making them 'non standard' also has the
burden of trying to swim against the huge current of convention.

Take the metric system -- vastly superior to rods, farthings,
thrupnees and pecks but the U.S. hasn't converted, and probably
never will, due to the huge inertia built into the current
system. And almost no individual will have the grit to buck
the system, thus the system doesn't change. The only chance
for progress comes when a critical mass of heretics refuse
to follow the heard.

BTW, Brian, 

Liking the CLI or not has nothing to do with dyslexia. I'm 
mildly dyslexic and I don't like GUI's. The difference is 
between an 'imperative' method of interaction and a 'menu'.
At the CLI we need to know what we want to do, and also how
to craft a command to get it done. In the GUI, we choose from 
premade menus of choices the OS gives us. The former is far
more powerful but you need to know your own mind. The latter
is much more comforting for the masses, alas, you can't do
anything not on the menu and you are strongly discouraged to
even have a mind at all ;-)


Regards,


Ray Andrews
.

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